Hannah Vainstein (b. 1984, Los Angeles, CA) maintains a multi-disciplinary practice that includes animation, performance, painting, and exploration of everyday ritual. In 2001, she moved to England, where she attended an arts and crafts high school and began her higher education at The Slade School of Fine Art.  Vainstein returned to California in 2006 and finished her arts education at the College of Creative Studies at UC Santa Barbara (UCSB).  Vainstein’s practice of “making” includes a long-term project, The Lower Lodge, which is a space that functions as an artist salon, studio, and boutique.  The Lower Lodge offers an outlet for seasonal making with an emphasis in an integrated, sustainable lifestyle. Seasonal making includes candle dipping, weaving, ceramics, knitting, carding, spinning, and gardening.  The Lower Lodge also hosts classes and other hands-on learning opportunities in its Santa Barbara studio space, including the following courses: Basic Medicine Making, Natural Plant Dyes, and Japanese Pickling.

The smART Talks program serves to increase awareness of local artists through a series of three annual lectures by Santa Barbara-based artists. The series, begun in 1996, was created in honor of Helen Rosenberg, mother of Susan Rose, and grandmother of Julie Weiner, and honors artists who live and work in the Santa Barbara area.  
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